An apparatus for compressing holographic data includes an image capture device for capturing an image of an interference pattern reconstructed by irradiating a reference beam and converting the image into m bits. In such an apparatus, a splitter removes least significant j bits from the m-bit data and divides m-j bits of the m-bit data into most significant k bits and remaining m-j-k bits. Thereafter, a compressor converts the most significant k bits into l bits, which is combined with the m-j-k bits to output n bits, wherein l